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Study: All-Cash Buyers Pay 10% Less


A new study shows sellers would rather leave money on the table and accept an all-cash sale than risk losing the sale completely because the mortgage falls through.

NEW YORK – Owning a home has long been considered a crucial way to build wealth, but making such a purchase has become increasingly difficult for many residents. In addition to steep housing prices and high interest rates, there have been a growing number of all-cash buyers who can close a deal quickly, beating out competing offers from buyers who need to finance their home with a mortgage.

The convenience and certainty of all-cash offers appeals to sellers so much so, that they pay on average 10 % less than mortgage buyers, according to a new study from the University of California San Diego Rady School of Management.

“When sellers accept a mortgage offer, it comes with risk,” said Michael Reher, study coauthor and assistant professor of finance at the Rady School of Management. “There is a risk the deal will fall through because there’s a third-party mortgage lender who needs to approve the loan for the borrower and there are other caveats such as issue the appraisal, or inspection, which is why around 10% of transactions fail when the buyer is paying with a mortgage. We find sellers are willing to leave money on the table to avoid the risk.”

The study, forthcoming in the Journal of Finance, finds that while 10% is the average difference between mortgage and cash buyers, it does not necessary apply to all buyers who need to purchase a home with a loan. For example, mortgage buyers with a relatively good borrowing profile pay only 6 % more than all-cash buyers, especially if the sale is taking place in an area where most real estate transactions are successful.

In areas where there may be more low-income buyers and mortgage transactions carry greater risk, a mortgage buyer can expect to pay up to 17% more, if the seller has a competing offer from an all-cash buyer.

“Considering that about a third of home purchases are all-cash deals, these differences are highly relevant for real estate market participants,” said Rossen Valkanov, study co-author and professor of finance for the Rady School.

He added that understanding the “cash discount” in real estate is important because it highlights the friction between mortgage buyers and sellers.

“In policy terms, U.S. taxpayers subsidize $8 trillion of mortgages to promote homeownership,” Valkanov said. “If policy makers made it easier for mortgage buyers to close escrow, it could be a more cost-effective route to promoting homeownership than subsidizing mortgages for first-time homebuyers.”

An example of reducing friction between mortgage buyers and sellers could be reducing the degree of “ambiguity” about the home sale process, from the standpoint of home sellers. This could potentially be achieved by requiring listing agents to make sure that home sellers are well-informed about the amount of risk and the time to close when accepting an all-cash versus a mortgaged offer.

“At the time a mortgage offer is submitted, a listing agent can disclose an easy-to-understand statistic, such as: ‘over the last 12 months, 97% of mortgage offers resulted in a sale after 60 days,’” Valkanov said.

Implications of a liquid housing market edging out many first-time buyers

Most first-time home buyers have to finance the purchase with a mortgage and the 10% “cash discount” all-cash buyers receive represents another hurdle in a competitive real estate market. In California for example, where inventory is low, the average age of the first-time homeowner is now almost a decade older compared to the 1980s.

But it has other implications for real estate. The increase in buyers with deeper pockets choosing to finance homes with cash because of higher interest rates also equates to a greater number of buyers possibly getting real estate at prices below the property’s actual value. Therefore, a liquid housing market with more all-cash buyers may erode the value of real estate as a savings vehicle, the authors note.

Reher and Valkanov embarked on the study after they both had experienced mortgage offers to homes being rejected because sellers went with an all-cash offer instead.

They replicated the findings in three different studies with the first assessing data from 2 million home sales across more than 90% of U.S. counties from 1980 to 2017. The data from county recorder offices revealed that mortgage buyers paid on average 11% more than all-cash buyers.

The second study utilized data from Redfin which provided the authors with information on more than 20,000 home sales as well as offers on homes that were sold from 2013 to 2021. This data set revealed mortgage buyers paid 8% percent more than all-cash buyers.

The third study involved an experimental survey designed by the authors where they asked 3,000 independent homeowners to imagine scenarios where they had to sell their home and received two competing offers-one from a mortgage buyer and one from an all-cash buyer. The responses ​​

Born

Ella Fitzgerald (singer) – 1917
Melissa Hayden (ballerina) – 1923
Al Pacino (actor) – 1940
Talia Shire (actress) – 1946
Hank Azaria (actor) – 1964
Renee Zellweger (actress) – 1969
Jason Lee (actor) – 1970

Welcome to TheFloridaCoast.com; I would like to introduce myself, my name is Mark Hoeft I am a Florida Real Estate Broker & Owner of The Florida Coast Realty Pensacola LLC in Pensacola, Pensacola Beach, & Gulf Breeze Florida, I also the proud owner of The Florida Coast Realty West Palm & The Florida Coast Realty Destin Florida. It would be my honor to help you find your slice of Florida's beautiful Emerald Coast that you've been searching for. Whether you are looking for your primary home, a second home, or investment property for your Real Estate portfolio on Florida's beautiful Gulf Coast. I specializing in Beach Homes, Condos, and Townhouses. I use my 20 years of knowledge and dedication to hard work to make your real estate transaction as smooth as possible. I've become a leader in buying and selling Pensacola Real Estate, Scenic Gulf Breeze Homes, and Pensacola Beach Condos & Homes. I pride myself in my professionalism and expertise. I've closed over 350 real estate transactions and have totaled more than $40,000,000.00 in sales during the past 20 years.

thurSDAY, APRIL 25, 2024

Events

New York became first state to require auto license plates– 1901
The first guide dog, Buddy, was presented to Morris Frank– 1928
First circus telecast– 1940
United Negro College Fund was incorporated– 1944
The board game Scrabble trademark was registered– 1950
St. Lawrence Seaway completed. (It was dedicated on June 26.)– 1959
“Purple People Bridge” reopened, Cincinnati– 2003
A 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Nepal killing more than 8,000 people– 2015

Mark Hoeft Broker/Owner

Specializing in Pensacola Florida luxury homes & Pensacola Beach Florida luxury condo for 

buyers &  Sellers

Realtor.com® February Rental Report: Renting Now Beats Buying in All of the Largest U.S. Metros


SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 26, 2024  /PRNewswire/ -- Elevated mortgage interest rates, still-high home prices and falling rents have made it more affordable to rent than buy in all of the top 50 U.S. metros, according to the Realtor.com® Rental Report released today. In February, the mortgage payment on a starter home in the largest metros cost $1,027 (+60.1%) more than the monthly rent in those markets, on average. At the same time last year, 45 metros favored renting.

The top 10 metros with the largest rent versus buy savings (see below for top 50 metros):
1.    Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, Texas – $2,165 monthly rent savings (141.5% difference)
2.    Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash. – $2,422 (121.1%)
3.    Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, Ariz. – $1,528 (99.0%)
4.    San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, Calif. – $2,689 (95.5%)
5.    Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Calif. – $2,539 (89.7%)
6.    San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif. – $2,780 (86.7%)
7.    Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tenn. – $1,366 (86.0%)
8.    Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, Ore. Wash. – $1,396 (84.4%)
9.    Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, Calif.  –  $1,514 (82.1%)
10.  Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas – $1,103 (80.0%)

"With rents continuing to fall and the cost of buying a home remaining high, exacerbated by the rise in mortgage rates in the later half of 2023, renting a home is now a more cost-effective option in all major U.S. markets," said Danielle Hale, Chief Economist at Realtor.com®. "Deciding whether to rent or buy often goes beyond a financial advantage though, and likely depends on a consumer's circumstances. Renters often prize flexibility while the biggest reasons homebuyers cite are that they want a place of their own and to be closer to family and friends. The financial scales have tipped monthly costs in favor of renting over buying, but it does not bring the benefit of housing wealth gains over time that owning does and movers should consider their long-term housing plans and personal situation as they make this decision."

The overall advantage of renting continues to grow in most markets
In February, the cost of buying a starter home in the top 50 metros was $1,027 (60.1%) higher than renting one; comparatively, the cost to buy was $865 higher than renting in February 2023 – a $162 higher monthly savings from renting compared to the prior year. The savings are mostly driven by declining rent prices and higher buying costs, especially interest rates – the 30-year fixed mortgage rate remained elevated at 6.78% in February 2024 compared to 6.26% 12 months ago. 

The advantages of renting have become more pronounced across the top metros. Looking specifically at the top 10 metros that favor renting over buying, the average monthly costs for buying a starter home were $1,950 (95.6%) higher than rents – nearly double the cost. Those metros are mostly markets with a higher concentration of tech workers and high earners, where both the average rent and buy costs are higher than the national average.

Renting beats buying in all major metros, especially in south and west; five metros flip from last year
In February, median rents fell across all unit sizes. Despite seven months of annual rent declines, median rents are still $252 (17.3%) higher than the same time in 2020, before the onset of the pandemic. Last February, 45 metros favored renting, but over the past 12 months Memphis, Tenn, Birmingham, Ala., Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Baltimore metros flipped from favoring buying to favoring renting. Four out of five of those markets were among the top markets seeing a high share of investor activity, which may have accelerated the growth of home prices there and increased the overall costs of buying a home, tilting those markets further toward favoring renting over buying.

Austin, Texas, where the monthly cost of buying a starter home was $3,695 – 141.5% more than the monthly rent of $1,530, for a monthly savings of $2,165 – topped the list of markets most favoring renting. Other top markets favoring renting over buying were Seattle, Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Metros with diminishing rental advantages were San Jose, Calif.; Dallas; San Francisco; Columbus, Ohio; Miami; and Minneapolis.

Methodology
Rental data as of February 2024 for studio, 1-bedroom, or 2-bedroom units advertised as for-rent on Realtor.com®. Rental units include apartments as well as private rentals (condos, townhomes, single-family homes). We use rental sources that reliably report data each month within the top 50 largest metropolitan areas. Realtor.com® began publishing regular monthly rental trends reports in October 2020 with data history stretching back to March 2019.

The monthly cost of buying a home was calculated by averaging the median listing prices of studio, 1-bed, and 2-bed homes, weighted by the number of listings, in each housing market. Monthly buying costs assume a 8% down payment, with a mortgage rate of 6.78%, and include taxes, insurance and HOA fees.

With the release of its January 2024 rent report, Realtor.com® incorporated a new and improved methodology for capturing and reporting more comprehensive rental listing trends and metrics. The new methodology is expected to yield a cleaner, more representative and more consistent measurement of rental listings and trends at both the national and local level. The methodology has been adjusted to better represent the true cost of primary housing for renters. Most areas across the country will see minor changes with a smaller handful of areas seeing larger updates. As a result of these changes, the rental data released since January 2024 will not be directly comparable with previous releases and Realtor.com® economics blog posts. However, future data releases, including historical data, will consistently apply the new methodology.


Mark Hoeft ~ 850-525-2765 ~ Mark@TheFloridaCoast.com ~ The Florida Coast Realty Pensacola

Died

Ginger Rogers (dancer & actress) – 1995
Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes (rap artist) – 2002
Bobby "Boris" Pickett (singer best known for the Billboard hit Monster Mash) – 2007
Bea Arthur (actress) – 2009
Harry Belafonte (singer, actor, and activist) – 2023

Advice of the DaY

Do not let any sweet-talking woman beguile your good sense with fascinations of her shape. It’s your barn she’s after. — Hesiod